American prosecutors are attempting to extradite a Danish scientist. Poul Thorsen has been charged with 13 counts of wire fraud and nine counts of money laundering; a federal grand jury alleges that Thorsen stole over $1 million from autism research funding between February 2004 and June 2008.

Thorsen is said to have used the proceeds to buy a home in Atlanta, two cars and a Harley Davidson. He is said to have stolen the money while serving as the ‘principal investigator’ for a program that studied the relationship between autism and exposure to vaccines.

The Copenhagen Post reports:

“… [O]ver the four-year period he submitted over a dozen false invoices from the CDC for research expenses to Aarhus University, where he held a faculty position, instructing them to transfer the funds to a CDC account, which was in fact his personal account …

Thorsen’s research on autism is widely known in academic circles, where he was until this week a highly respected figure. A paper of his on the subject, which is known as ‘The Danish Study’, is quoted extensively to refute the autism vaccine connection.”

Another prominent name in vaccine medicine, Dr. Paul Offit, well-known shill for the vaccine industry, has also been called out for making false and unsubstantiated statements about CBS News Investigative Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson and her report looking into the ties between vaccine supporters and the vaccine industry.

On April 18, 2011, the California Orange County Register issued a retraction of an August 4, 2008 article containing disparaging statements made by Dr. Offit about Attkisson.

According to Adventures in Autism:

“Upon further review, it appears that a number of Dr. Offit’s statements, as quoted in the OC Register article, were unsubstantiated and/or false. Attkisson had previously reported on the vaccine industry ties of Dr. Offit and others in a CBS Evening News report ‘How Independent Are Vaccine Defenders?’”

The unsubstantiated statements included a claim that Attkisson “lied”, and a claim that CBS News sent a “mean spirited and vituperative” email. Offit also told the OC Register that he provided CBS News “the details of his relationship … with pharmaceutical company Merck”, but documents provided by CBS News indicate Offit did not disclose all of his financial relationships with Merck.

When two of the biggest names in vaccine research and support turn out to be guilty of fraud, major deception, lying and making unsubstantiated statements, it really calls into question the validity of their work on the vaccine front … and that’s putting it mildly.

Yet, this news has only been quietly shared by a handful of media outlets.

Countless American parents are putting their trust, and their child’s lives, in the hands of the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) every time they vaccinate their children. Yet two of the CDC’s “go-to guys” have now been caught red-handed lying and, in the case of Dr. Poul Thorsen, committing outright fraud. This includes:

Dr. Poul Thorsen, who was involved in several key studies the CDC uses to support their claims that MMR and mercury-containing vaccines, among others, are safe.

Dr. Paul Offit, a very well-known and frequent proponent of mandatory vaccination, whose views are promoted by the AAP and who previously served as a member of The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). ACIP is a 15-member panel of immunization experts, selected by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. They provide advice and guidelines to the CDC on vaccine-preventable diseases.

Dr. Poul Thorsen is most widely known for a 2003 study known as the “Danish Study,” which reported there was a 20-fold increase in autism in Denmark after mercury-based preservatives like thimerosal were banned from vaccines. The research team therefore concluded that mercury-containing vaccines were safe.

But the study was actually a masterfully done example of lying by omission, because at the same time the apparent autism increase took place a new law had been put into place in Denmark that required autism cases to be reported on the national level. There was also a new clinic dedicated to autism treatment opened. These two factors were likely the driving forces behind the sudden increase in reported autism cases, but the researchers failed to disclose them.

Despite the obvious ramifications of these omitted “details,” the CDC has relied on the Danish Study to “prove” their case that MMR vaccine and mercury are safe for your kids.

Adding fodder to the fire, an investigation by Aarhus University (where Thorsen held a faculty position) and the CDC uncovered that Thorsen had not only falsified documents but was also receiving salaries from two universities (which is a violation of the universities’ rules). Then in 2009 Thorsen disappeared amidst serious fraud charges and with nearly $2 million that was supposedly used for research.

Now a federal grand jury in Atlanta has indicted Thorsen and charged him with 13 counts of wire fraud, 9 counts of money laundering and stealing more than $1 million in grant money from the CDC over a four-year period.

It turns out that Thorsen was reportedly submitting fraudulent invoices with fabricated expenses to the CDC, and using the money to purchase cars, a motorcycle, a home and cashier’s checks. The Copenhagen Post reported:

“Thorsen helped two Danish government agencies obtain research grants, which amounted to $11 million between 2000 and 2009, whilst he was working as a visiting scientist at the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the 1990s.

He returned to Denmark as the ‘principal investigator’ for the programme, which studied the relationship between autism and exposure to vaccines, allegedly putting him in charge of the administration of the funding.

It is alleged that over the four-year period he submitted over a dozen false invoices from the CDC for research expenses to Aarhus University, where he held a faculty position, instructing them to transfer the funds to a CDC account, which was in fact his personal account.

Thorsen’s research on autism is widely known in academic circles, where he was until this week a highly respected figure.”

CDC Gives Nearly $15 Million to Thorsen’s Research Center

Thorsen’s research center, the North Atlantic Epidemiology Alliances (NANEA), has received $14.6 million from the CDC since 2002, according to the Huffington Post. Many of the resulting “research” studies from NANEA have been used to support supposed vaccine safety. As the Huffington Post stated:

“Questions about Thorsens’s scientific integrity may finally force CDC to rethink the vaccine protocols since most of the other key pro vaccine studies cited by CDC rely on the findings of Thorsen’s research group.

These include oft referenced research articles published by the Journal of the American Medical Association, the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the New England Journal of Medicine and others. The validity of all these studies is now in question.”

However, this measure of common sense seems lost on the CDC, who stated in regard to Thorsen’s research:

“Dr. Thorsen was one of many co-authors on these research projects. All of these were subject to extensive peer review and we have no reason to suspect that there are any issues related to the integrity of the science.”

“An OC Register article dated Aug. 4, 2008 entitled “Dr. Paul Offit Responds” contained several disparaging statements that Dr. Offit of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia made about CBS News Investigative Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson and her report. Upon further review, it appears that a number of Dr. Offit’s statements, as quoted in the OC Register article, were unsubstantiated and/or false …

Unsubstantiated statements include: Offit’s claim that Attkisson “lied”; and Offit’s claim that CBS News sent a “mean spirited and vituperative” email “over the signature of Sharyl Attkisson” stating “You’re clearly hiding something.” In fact, the OC Register has no evidence to support those claims.

Further, Offit told the OC Register that he provided CBS News “the details of his relationship, and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s relationship, with pharmaceutical company Merck.” However, documents provided by CBS News indicate Offit did not disclose his financial relationships with Merck, including a $1.5 million Hilleman chair he sits in that is co-sponsored by Merck.”

A Pattern of False Accusations

Offit seems to have a pattern of falsely accusing people of lying. Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC), sued Offit in 2009 for defamation and also named reporter Amy Wallace and Conde Nast after Offit said “She lies” in an article published by Wired magazine without providing any evidence supporting his baseless accusation.

Fisher asked the Fourth Circuit federal court in Virginia for a jury trial and $1 million in damages but Judge Claude Hilton dismissed the lawsuit primarily on the grounds that both Fisher and Offit are public figures and that, in his opinion, Offit said “she lies” in the heat of spirited public debate.

In Hilton’s opinion, Offit’s accusation was protected under the First Amendment right to free speech. Attorney Jonathan Emord filed an excellent brief opposing the motion to dismiss that argued there is good evidence that Offit knew exactly what he was doing when he falsely accused Fisher of lying and that libel per se is not protected by the First Amendment.

Fisher stated:

“I was not able to get my day in court in front of a jury of my peers to defend myself against Offit’s false accusations. But I am very glad a respected veteran journalist, who Offit tried to defame, has had the public record set straight.

It is never too late to ask for justice or get the record corrected when bullies like Offit engage in a smear campaign against people who disagree with him. It is ironic that in my libel case, the judge said Offit has a right to defame public figures in the spirit of free speech when Offit’s real goal is to censor free speech about vaccine risks by demonizing anyone who criticizes vaccine safety.”

Offit Named “Vaccine Denialist of the Decade”

Case in point, Offit’s new book “Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All” attempts to discredit some of the highest profile names that dared to question vaccine safety, including Jim Carrey, Jenny McCarthy, and Barbara Loe Fisher. As the Age of Autism reported, the book:

” … Deride[s] those who have any concerns whatsoever about the safety of the current vaccine schedule. There is plenty of sympathy for parents of children who have died of infectious diseases, but perfunctory dismissal in cases where parents blame vaccines.”

“Anyone concerned about any of these things fits Offit’s definition of anti-vaccine, because vaccines don’t cause any of them, because Paul Offit says so …

Yet Offit himself yields an amazing amount of ground by describing unsafe vaccines — including early polio shots and a rotavirus vaccine that was the immediate predecessor of his own. His technique is to situate all this as historical, part of the triumphant march of progress into the bright sunshine of vaccine safety.”

They make an interesting point in that Offit actually describes historical instances where vaccines were dangerous, yet fails to realize the connection that the same safety issues could be ongoing today. Offit wrote:

“When Barbara Loe Fisher burst onto the scene, several vaccines had serious side effects, every year causing allergic reactions, paralysis, or death. Public health officials and doctors didn’t hide these problems. But they didn’t do anything to correct them, either. And most parents had no idea they existed.”

Despite this acknowledgement, he states that a study involving vaccinated and unvaccinated children to gauge which group is ultimately healthier would be “an entirely unethical experiment.”

Mainstream Media Message: Silence Vaccine Critics, Protect Proponents

There also appears to be a pattern of censorship in the mainstream press, which has barely featured the news about Dr. Thorsen’s fraud charges and has not carried stories exposing Dr. Ofitt’s lies, yet has widely circulated criticism against Dr. Andrew Wakefield, who has investigated the connection between developmental disorders and bowel disease, and early exposure to vaccines.

There are tens, if not hundreds of billions of dollars of profits involved in the vaccine industry, and as a consequence there’s major pressure to suppress scientific evidence documenting vaccine risks, such as the findings Dr. Wakefield uncovered.

Even Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has tried to censor what the media reports in regard to vaccines. As Age of Autism reported, Sebelius stated:

“There are groups out there that insist that vaccines are responsible for a variety of problems, despite all scientific evidence to the contrary. We (the office of Secretary of Health and Human Services) have reached out to media outlets to try to get them not to give the views of these people equal weight in their reporting.”

There is immense pressure to keep negative press — like the fact Age of Autism reports that Dr. Offit earned at least $29 million, and perhaps as much as $55 million, as part of a $182-million sale by the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia of its worldwide royalty interest in the Merck Rotateq vaccine that Offit helped invent … or the fact that a key player in the autism research the CDC uses to support vaccine safety has been accused of criminal activity — quiet.

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) — to whom the vaccine industry gives millions for conferences, grants, medical education classes and even to help build their headquarters — even sent a letter to CBS containing misinformation about NVIC in an attempt to strong arm the network into taking down our Times Square billboard message, which encourages everyone to make informed vaccine choices.

Always Remember This When Seeking the Truth

The truth is, questionable ethical practices have long been associated with the pharmaceutical (including vaccines) industry.

This begs the question, with a track record like this, how can you believe anything they say?

Unfortunately, it is often naïve to trust blindly, even when a prominent figure has earned the respect of his peers and comes complete with a laundry list of credentials (as was the case with Thorsen).

Instead, if you want to stand even a chance of getting the truth, you also have to consider the hidden motivations behind their recommendations and research.

What do they believe in?

Where is their loyalty?

Where is their money coming from?

What does a company, or an individual, stand to gain financially from a government vaccine mandate?

You’ve simply got to investigate the source of your information, especially when it comes to your, or your child’s, health. And remember too that many pediatricians today listen to the advice of Paul Offit and research studies by Thorsen, so you’ve got to take that into account when seeking advice, too. Eventually, I do believe that truth will prevail.

Remember the words of German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer who, 200 years ago, said all truth goes through three stages:

First it is ridiculed

Then it is violently opposed

Finally it is widely accepted as self evident

Gandhi also held a similar belief and famously said: “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

The good news is that many issues — including the right to transparency in vaccine research and safety, and the right to vaccine choice — are in the Violent Opposition / Fighting phase. As you can see, we know what comes next!

36 Comments

Go Joe Mercola. You and Sharyl Attkisson are on the money. As Wakefield put it at Autism One in Chicago just a couple of weeks ago, we are winning. I hope you will also promote the Canary Party which represents the new grassroots movement against medical and government duplicity with respect to vaccines and the pharmaceutical industrial/media oligarchy.

I believe what you say to be true – vaccines are dangerous and should be avoided. There is a study I would like to see… the results of vaccination on future generations. At 57, my generation was among the first to be given childhood vaccines. Now, I believe I'm seeing the results of those vaccines among the grandchildren. I think that if studies were done, and test subjects followed, that you will find deep symbiotic relationship between vaccines given in the early 60's and today's increasing number of "disorders" and rare diseases. I bet, if somehow tracked, that all would relate back to the vaccines given to the grandparents. I believe that ADD and ADHD that shows up in 4 to 5 year olds is directly related to the vaccines they are given at that time, especially the MMR. These are only my observations, I have read no such studies. Are there any such studies?

My doctor had printed out a study for me that looked at the number of vaccinations per child and the disease rates for a number of different diseases. Some of the diseases were autism, allergies, autoimmune disease, cancer, MS, and others. The rate of all of these illnesses increases dramatically as vaccination rates increase. In the unvaccinated you can't find these illness (or in the case of cancer it's extremely rare). I don't know where I put the study but it was a large case study and if you googled around enough you could probably find it.

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Mr.Ginckgo, please be certain of your facts before you spout. Wakefield was not the first, and has not been the last, to state his findings of severe bowel disease in MMR vaccinated children. These same findings were arrived at independently by several other researchers; information that is freely available if you do the homework. Wakefield did not mention an autism/vaccine link, he stated that his findings unearthed the need for further study. Perhaps the media and the medical establishment were reacting from the position of a guilty conscience? Do YOUR homework, Mr.Ginckgo, and after you do, please come back here and renounce your post. James E. B.